The equity barometers firmed up in afternoon trade and moved towards the day's high. The Nifty crossed 14,600 mark. Shares rallied for the second day as investors cheered Union Budget announcements. Positive global cues also lifted the sentiment.
At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, soared 1,104.56 points or 2.27% at 49,705.17. The Nifty 50 index surged 328.60 points or 2.30% at 14,609.80.
The broader market lagged the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.78%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.34%.
Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1,667 shares rose and 1,131 shares fell. A total of 186 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 42 stocks advanced while 8 stocks declined.
The Union Budget 2021 unveiled on 1 February 2021 supported all the essential aspects of growth by an increase in government spending without an increase in indirect taxes. The Budget offered huge stimulus to infrastructure, capex, healthcare and boosted the credit flow by taking out the toxic assets of the banking system. Increased FDI limit in insurance improved the overall outlook of the sector.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,494.23 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 90.46 crore in the Indian equity market on 1 February 2021, provisional data showed.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 10,34,18,646 with 22,38,286 deaths. India reported 1,63,353 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,54,486 deaths while 1,04,48,406 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Gainers & Losers:
Tata Motors (up 10.84%), Ultratech Cement (up 7.47%), Shree Cement (up 7.37%), Grasim Industries (up 6.28%) and HDFC Bank (up 6.18%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.
HDFC Life Insurance Company (down 3.13%), Bajaj Finserv (down 2.76%), Reliance Industries (down 1.70%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.65%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 1.23%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Nifty Results Today:
HDFC (up 5.89%) will announce its quarterly result today.
Earning Impact:
Finolex Industries jumped 5.79% after consolidated net profit soared 163.30% to Rs 259.40 crore on 52.5% increase in net sales to Rs 1,066.88 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019. Consolidated profit before tax (PBT) surged 163% to Rs 348.96 crore in Q3 December 2020 as against Rs 132.67 crore in Q3 December 2019. Current tax expense for the quarter jumped 122% to Rs 88.81 crore as against Rs 40.01 crore in Q3 December 2019.
The board has also declared a stock split in the ratio 1:5 (one equity share of Rs 10 will be split into five equity shares of face value Rs 2 each).
Stocks in Spotlight:
NMDC rose 1.15% after the state-owned miner said its iron ore production jumped 16.61% to 3.86 million tonnes (MT) in January 2021 from 3.31 MT in January 2020. The company's iron ore sales climbed 26.35% to 3.74 MT in January 2021 from 2.96 MT in January 2020. Sequentially, NMDC's production remained flat while sales rose 3.31% in January 2021 over December 2020.
Bharat Electronics (BEL) fell 0.79%. The company said it recorded a turnover of Rs 2,256 crore in Q3 FY21, which is up 3.5% compared with a turnover of Rs 2,180 crore in Q3 FY20. The company received orders worth Rs 4,899 crore in Q3 FY21, higher than orders worth Rs 1,260 crore received in the same period last year.
BEL's order book stood at Rs 54,791 crore as on 1 January 2021 as against Rs 54,959 crore as on 1 January 2020. The company's export turnover was $16.52 million while its export order book was $182.85 million as on 1 January 2021. During 2020-21, the company expects major orders for electronic warfare systems, aircraft upgrade and communication equipments.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) gained 1.11% after the company's cargo volume rose 31% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 26.02 MMT in January 2021. The cargo volume includes volume of 3.87 MMT of Krishnapatnam Port that was acquired in October 2020. The growth in cargo volume for the month of January, 2021 excluding Krishnapatnam Port was 11% on year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis, the company stated.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Tuesday. Globally, investors are keeping an eye out on further signs that economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic is not too far away, as vaccination rollouts continue and new infections and fatalities start to slowly decline amid lockdowns.
In Asia, the Japanese government is set to extend the state of emergency covering Tokyo and other regions till March 7 in order to contain the coronavirus, as per media reports.
US stocks jumped on Monday, the first session of February, as Wall Street appeared to shake off concerns about a speculative retail trading mania that largely drove the market's worst weekly sell-off since October.
Meanwhile, a group of 10 Republican senators sent President Joe Biden a letter on Sunday, urging him to consider a smaller, scaled-down COVID-19 relief proposal. His current plan calls for $1.9 trillion in additional fiscal stimulus.
The alternative proposal comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber will move to pass a budget resolution, the first step toward approving legislation through reconciliation. The process would enable Senate Democrats to approve an aid measure without GOP votes.
In economic data, US manufacturing activity slowed slightly in January. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Monday its index of national factory activity fell to a reading of 58.7 last month from 60.5 in December.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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